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Review
**Exclusive**
LA VOZ QUEBRADA
(Claro de Luna)
Label(s):
Genre:
Release Date:
Monday, September 23, 2013
Grade:
B+
Format:
Digital
Tracks:
7
- Other Reviews
Claro de Luna’s latest album, a whopping two years after their debut, is an instrumental album and also a concept album. The concept? Communication breakdown. How is that translated through instrumental music? Like any soundtrack, weather it be a mixed tape of your own life or one for a film, the music offers you the road to travel, what you find on your way is all in the interpretation.
Fortunately the band has an explanation on exactly what the concept is here and in the spirit of our times, I think it helps guide your mindset for the path that follows.
The gaps and voids in the communication process affect our daily lives, either talking with friends and strangers, or via the role of mass communication such as the press. We are surrounded by errors in language, used to express what we really want to say. The slightest misinterpretations can deform and mutate the message, beyond it’s original meaning.
When the words we say can’t be expressed as truth, and the message can’t be delivered to where or whom it is intended, the fragile chain in communication breaks, and our interpretation refracts the original message and its primary intention.
The interpretation, the intention, the approach, the context… are some of the factors present in the communication process that could transform an original message into something completely different, leading to misinformation, ill-founded opinions, personal conflicts and many other social and individual problems.
Even though the concept explanation is a short three paragraphs long it’s not hard to understand where the band is coming from and where we might be headed as far as communication is concerned. I know, I for one hate that my kids own cell phones and I rarely see them actually using them as phones, instead they send text messages to their friends using their generations version of shorthand (emoticons and what not). Hell, I’m even guilty of it.
When the band mentions media I am quick to turn to the justice system where the best lawyer wins based on how they phrase lies and truth. The same thing can be said about the media, a source of direction for the sheep like masses to draw their opinions from. When news is reconstructed to favor a certain agenda the wrong type of opinions and feelings manifest in the public eye making the world a more dangerous place for everyone.
The concept of communication breakdown is a pretty broad one and, depending on your experiences, this album will take you places with its moody tones and far reaching sounds. Weather you view the music in a doomsday platform where the vocals act as the desperate voice of humanity trying to come through against the buzz of the machines or alien life looking down from above on a world of dependency, every road offers something. Really worth looking into as a great set of music as well as a great concept to ponder on.
- Review by AJ Garcia
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